People wearing protective face masks wait in line to enter the grocery store in Tashkent. File photo/Reuters

Gulf Today Report

A senior health official in Uzbekistan has said the country intends to take part in the final trials of Chinese and Russian vaccines for coronavirus vaccines and there are no plans to impose another lockdown despite the growth in virus cases globally.

Deputy health minister of Uzbekistan Shakhrukh Sharakhmetov said that, Tashkent is in talks with China's Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical, a unit of Chongqing Zhifei, and Sinopharm about stage III trials, as well as the developers of Russia Sputnik V vaccine.

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Last month the government of Uzbekistan has signed agreements with two Chinese companies to conduct the final stage of trials of vaccines against coronavirus.

The Tashkent government has used large part of a $1 billion anti-COVID-19 fund to build specialised hospitals.

To curb the spread of the coronavirus the country of 34 million has imposed two nationwide lockdowns this year, but hopes that extensive preparations for a potential second wave will allow it to avoid imposing severe restrictions again.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has instructed officials to "learn to live and work in pandemic conditions.”

The Tashkent government has used large part of a $1 billion anti-COVID-19 fund to build specialised hospitals, buy medicines and equipment such as lung ventilators, and train more medical staff. More than $100 million has gone towards special bonuses for doctors and nurses.

Uzbekistan has not carried out mass testing. Cases peaked between July and September and so far have not spiked again. This month, the number of daily new infections has gradually edged below 250, with an overall total of 67,626 cases and 575 deaths.